


There and Home Again

by KauHuf



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen, Hateno, botw, cute little drabbles, npcs of hyrule
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KauHuf/pseuds/KauHuf
Summary: Short drabbles about Link's many homes, Hateno, the Castle and choosing where to stay. Featuring: a horse, several plants, and a small existential crisis at some point!





	1. A House

**Author's Note:**

> Started off as a one-shot but it's gotten a lot longer! Tried to work in more NPC's because they really do make the world in my opinion. As always, if you see a typo or something that doesn't make sense, tell me!  
> This is also my first multi-chapter...thing.

Hateno was one of the few places Link could fully give himself too. He had made his home in the small town, and though he could never be tied down for too long, he was sure when this war was over that Hateno would be where he returned to stay.

Very few knew of who he really was, outside of the small town. Those who recognized him was in the settlement would smile kindly as he led Kettle back to her stable, freshly scarred and bruised but carrying a bag of Monster Parts triumphantly over his shoulder.

Pruce had grown used to keeping arrows stocked, as Link would often throw the door open in a flurry of magic light, wind, and a quick motion of _Need Bomb Arrows!_ They had an agreement that as long as Link brought him the necessary ingredients to make the explosive part of bomb arrows, Pruce would provide them at a discount.

Links penchant for cooking (and bottomless stomach) were soon well known around the village thanks to his frequent trips to the market for fresh eggs and milk whenever he was in town.

  _Luxuries I don't get often._ He had signed when Ivee asked.

Still, he was surprised when he woke up one morning to freshly baked bread and cheese wrapped in a basket. And later, when he found dozens of apples overflowing from Kettles trough. Or when he would return home, exhausted after trekking over mountains and cliffs and all manner of unforgiving terrain, to find carefully wrapped preserves, decorated with Hyrule Herb and dried Nightshade, his favorites.

The kids asked Link to show them all his weapons, to which he would chuckle and sign _I have too many to count._ And then they would instead crowd around him, tugging on his sleeves until he was forced to sit under a nearby tree or chair to tell stories of his travels. What was the desert like, how big was the ocean, and were there really trees that could fit whole towns inside them— _unforgivingly hot, unimaginably massive, Goddess yes and they are magnificent._ The children of Hateno were in the small few who could pull words from a throat cracked from disuse, spoken softly but with confidence.

Link usually arrived at night. The village would be dark and quiet save for the sound of crickets. He did this in part not to disturb the peace, but, if he were being honest to himself, he mostly did it to avoid worrying his newfound friends and family.

Injured, tired, and hair a mess, he usually sported more than just the scars and scratches Senna would playfully tease him on. Without a few healing potions on hand, he often resorted to returning home to mend his broken bones. He would sleep all day and into the next night, the only indication he had returned the smoke rising from the chimney.

After a particularly arduous day and the conquest of another Guardian, Link had returned to Hateno to find a glowing blue lantern at the gate. As he continued the trek home, he realized the path was brighter, lit by glowing Nightshade which attracted fireflies.

Despite his exhaustion though, Link couldn't sit still for long. He would often help out in the village where he could, repairing broken wagons, building fences, helping farm or even changing out dye with Sayge.It was impossible to dissuade Link from working, so the villagers came to accept it instead offering Link food in lieu of monetary payment. He only ever spent a few days in the village at a time, but by the time he left everything felt brighter, tidier.

It wasn't uncommon for someone (usually Seldon) to find Link sleeping in a less-than-normal place. In trees, against rocks, in the fields around town, Link was well known for sleeping wherever the sun would warm his stomach as he slept.

 _"Like a cat!"_ The self-proclaimed guide would laugh as Link blushed pink from his cheeks to his ears.

Yes, the people of Hateno knew the Hero of Hyrule, Champion of The Princess, and Destroyer of Darkness was the man who lived on top of the hill across the bridge. They never spoke of it out loud, but his secret hideout, was safe.


	2. Little Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a picture I saw on Tumblr!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm baaaack.  
>  Yea, I fell into a bit of a slump cause I wasn't sure how to end this. Still not real keen on it, but this is probably as good as it's gonna get.

It started off simply enough.  
Rumor of the Hero’s return spread quickly throughout Hyrule, as gossip tended too. 100 years had passed, but people remained the same when it came to here say and idle chit-chat. Link would be resting at an inn, travel pack placed discreetly over the Master Sword, when he would here the titter of giggles from other wanders.   
"I heard he passed through Necluda last week", "Someone saw him take out another Bokoblin camp", "They say where he rest's, animals gather" and so on it would go until he fell asleep with a knowing smile on his face.  
What made the whole thing particularly amusing was that there was always some bit of truth to the tale. Places he passed through and people he'd spoken too but most of it was simply flamboyant additions to his already wild and growing Legend.   
But then, Link started to find little things left at the places he had slept. Sometimes it was a few wrapped herbs, occasionally dried meat, but as the weeks went on and he had to venture further and further, Link found the ‘gifts’ becoming larger.  
Arrow bundles, piles of useful spices, dried apples. Little notes started to be added to these stacks of supplies as well; For the Hero, For Our Champion, May Your Travels Be Blessed, don't eat this, it’s for link's horsie!   
Link found himself crouching beside the road routinely to compose himself as he read the heartfelt notes. Many were from those just wishing him well, and offering him refuge at local inns but more were from children, messy scrawl in colored ink that gave him strength he didn’t know he had to keep going.  
As he strayed further from beaten paths in search of shrines, Link often found himself sleeping under trees and in caves. He tried to leave each place he camped untouched, but stamping out all traces of a weary traveler with a hearty appetite for peeled buttered apples was difficult, to say the least.   
Link did this partially to preserve the beauty around him (for despite laying in desolation for 100 years, Nature had made his home beautiful again) but also to avoid being tracked by the ever-encroaching Yiga Clan.  
But, somehow, the gifts persisted. He woke up with flowers strewn across him and freshly made meal’s tucked by his things, once even a sewing kit on a road leading out of Hateno he would forever be thankful for.  
The Hero of Hyrule was not just respected, he was loved. And as Link left each village, bid each new friend farewell and curled up with a full belly by dimming fires, he felt that love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading. I feel bad for not having a regular upload schedule, but it's hard to make the words go, y'know?  
> What your favorite flower/plant in-game? In case you couldn't figure it out, mine is Nightshade!
> 
> Comments? Criticisms? Kudos? Cool stories about stuff you happened upon in-game? Tell me!

**Author's Note:**

> Thaaaaaanks for Reading!  
> Question: What do you usually name your horses, something random or something that fits? I named my first black horse Kettle, so Links horse is named the same!  
> Comments? Critiques? Cute Horse Stories? Tell me about them!


End file.
